


The Legend of Zelda: Maw of the Earth: Prologue parts 5 and 6

by StellarBlitz



Series: The Legend of Zelda: Maw of the Earth (Prologue) [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Cliffhangers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, G/T, Giant/Tiny, Good Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda), Human/Monster Romance, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Interspecies Relationship(s), Maw of the Earth, Monsters, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Past Character Death, Past Lives, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Size Difference, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, zelda au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarBlitz/pseuds/StellarBlitz
Summary: Zelda convinces the beastly Ganon to accompany her back to Lanayru, but, as expected when a beastly figure enters a civilization, they are met with less-than-charitable reception.
Relationships: Ganondorf & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Ganondorf/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: The Legend of Zelda: Maw of the Earth (Prologue) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1898893
Kudos: 5





	The Legend of Zelda: Maw of the Earth: Prologue parts 5 and 6

**Author's Note:**

> This marks the roughly halfway point of the prologue! It's almost done, and soon true adventures will be on the horizon.

After packing their things, Zelda and Ganon went out onto the snowy mountain cliff once more.

Ganon fell on all fours, then glanced at Zelda. “Hop on,” he said, nodding behind him for good measure.

She balked. “Y-you sure?”

“I’ll be faster, anyway. And I know the fastest routes down. And, well… I don’t wish for you to injure yourself trying to get down there on your own, so… hop on.”

Carefully, she obliged, gripping his mane tightly. He took off, dashing down the mountain at a much faster pace than Zelda thought possible. She managed to hang on, however, and he moved with a certain grace that ensured she wouldn’t fall off.

He stopped, however, slowing at a shelf in the mountaintop just a little ways below his cabin. Zelda could faintly see some bumps in the deep snow…

“I promised you I would take you to him…” he said solemnly, approaching slowly and taking a seat in the snow.

“This is where you buried him?” she asked quietly. He simply nodded.

Slowly, she dismounted, approaching the gravesites quietly. The largest mound was on the edge of the plateau, and she could see faint stone carvings peeking out of the snow. Brushing them aside revealed a humble plaque, carved simply but evocatively.

She felt tears welling in her eyes, but clenched her teeth and looked back to Ganon.

“Thank you,” she whispered. His face was also solemn, and he nodded slowly.

“I hope… I hope it helps you, knowing where he is,” he said as she approached him once more.

“It does… I’ll be sure to tell the officials… and tell them not to disturb his rest.” She wiped a few tears from her face. “Right. Let’s keep moving.”

With that, Ganon took off once more, deftly racing down the mountainside, keenly aware of the passenger aboard. After a few minutes of fast-paced movement, he stopped once more at a cliff just a ways above the rest of the kingdom. Zelda couldn’t see his face, but his tipped-back ears told her enough: he was nervous.

“I… usually stop here,” he confessed. “I-I’m not sure where we should start…”

“...Take me to the castle,” she said, pointing to the grand structure nestled in the mountainside. “Whichever way you wish… I’ll be sure no harm comes to either of us.”

He huffed anxiously and continued, slower this time as he navigated the lower part of the mountain… new territory for him. The pair could hear a few of the townsfolk shriek and flee as they approached, which made Ganon back away.

“Keep going… it’s alright,” Zelda urged him. Warily, he continued, eventually bringing them to the edge of the city. By now, townsfolk had either fled, or were warily watching the pair as they entered, murmuring to each other.

A throng of guardsmen, dressed in their heavy furs and armor and wielding spears, approached the pair, spears at the ready.

“Leave at once!” their leader barked, prodding forward with his weapon. Ganon flinched and scooted away, tail between his legs.

“He means you no harm!” Zelda’s voice rang out, and she raised her hand firmly.

The guards erupted in a cacophony of murmurs upon realizing her identity, and a few stood down before being chided by the rest.

“Let that beast go, Your Highness!” their leader ordered.

“He’s not a beast! He’s not here to hurt anyone!” she dismounted Ganon, keeping a hand in his mane in reassurance. She glanced over to his bright yellow eyes, which were wide in fright.

“I-I-I mean you no harm…” he murmured quietly, his voice lost in the bickering chorus. He looked to Zelda. “I-I brought her back… S-She’s not dead… P-p-please...”

Suddenly, Zelda saw Impa push through the crowd of soldiers, face fuming.

“Princess Zelda, what is the meaning of this?” she barked.

“Impa, please-”

“How dare you bring this monster to our city!”

“He’s not a-”

“STOP!” Ganon bellowed, hushing the whole crowd. He stood, looming over all of them in his full height.

“I-I… I am not here to harm anyone. I-In fact… I can tell when… when I’m not welcome… and I know full well that your people fear me, but… I had to keep your princess safe somehow…” he bit his lip.

“So the blue beast can speak…” Impa said in awe. She shook her head and returned to her stern expression. “Then it ought to know better than to come here.”

“Y-Your princess invited me,” he replied, stooping low to look at her. “I-I managed to pull her from the cold…”

“I owe him my life,” Zelda said. “I nearly froze to death… like my father did. I wouldn’t have survived if he didn’t care for me.”

Impa squinted, tentatively approaching the pair and signaling for the men to stand down. She eyed Ganon warily, seemingly inspecting every inch of him.

“I do not take monstrous beings entering my territory lightly,” she muttered. “If you have in any way manipulated our princess-”

“I-I haven’t,” he blurted, backing away. “I-I swear to you. All I wished to do was nurse her back to health and return her to you, but… she swayed me into entering your city, so… I thought I would try it, as nervous as the prospect made me…”

“Hmph. Is what she said true, then? Our king died a most undignified death by… hypothermia?”

His face fell further. “Y-yes… which is why I made sure to save her quickly this time… I’m sorry.”

She looked at Zelda, who was listening quietly to them speaking.

“I can forgive sneaking off in the middle of the night, but… had this beast not been civil… you would not be spared a criminal’s punishment,” Impa hissed. “Return to your quarters. This whole fiasco has interrupted our preparations for the feast tonight… celebrating you, no less. So you are to sequester yourself there for the rest of the day-”

“W-wait,” Zelda interjected, “What about him?”

Impa looked back to Ganon.

“He shall return to his home… wherever that is… and never come back.”

“Wait! No! Impa, that’s not fair! He hasn’t hurt anyone!”

“That does not make him any less of a threat!” Impa snapped. “This beast could kill any one of us in an instant!”

“I don’t want to…” Ganon said quietly.

“Any of you could kill each other in an instant too, but you don’t banish them!” Zelda retorted, motioning to the guards. “He’s not a monster!”

Impa, incensed at the princess’ reply, took a sharp breath in and sighed. “Well, princess, what do you suggest we do with him? We have no room for such a creature-”

“I’ll take him,” Zelda interjected. “He can stay with me. He’s… already proven he can fit into tight spaces. He’s perfectly civilized.”

Ganon flinched. “Y-Your Highness, you don’t-“

“No, Ganon… I want to help you,” she said, taking a clawed hand. “If you’ll allow me…” she looked back at Impa. “He has been nothing but charitable to me, and I must repay him in some way. I don’t care about the party. I had no interest in it. I simply seek to make sure he’s in a better place than he was…”

Impa sighed. “Well, if this ‘charity’ comes back to bite you, I will have no choice but to enact my revenge… I will have my eye on you two…” she stiffened. “Now leave my sight. Both of you.”

Ganon immediately began to shuffle away, but Zelda stopped him and took him by the hand, leading him towards the castle. By now citizens and shopkeepers were peering out of their windows in awe and terror, watching as the blue beast followed their princess, both their heads hung low.

. . .

Zelda promptly ushered Ganon into her area of the castle, where he deftly squeezed through the door and stood still for a moment, looking rather out of place. He was stooped quite a bit, his head nearly touching the ceiling. His eyes flitted about the room nervously, taking in all the detail and ornamentation.

“I, ah…” he mumbled. “This is… a lot…”

Zelda took off some of her gear, facing away from him. Her fists balled up in frustration.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have… I forced this on you.”

“N-No, Your Highness, I’m not upset...” he approached gingerly, acutely aware of how much space he took up. “I-I… it’s just… I placed you into a difficult situation…”

“As did I,” she replied. “I can tell you don’t want to be here.”

“I don’t want to be somewhere where I frighten people…” he looked about the room. “It’s just you and me in here… which is fine. Please, Princess, do not be upset.”

She sat on her bed, resting her head in her hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me… I keep making such rash decisions…”

“It is… a natural part of becoming a self-sufficient person,” Ganon replied, carefully drawing closer and taking a seat on the floor. “They will creep up on you, and in the heat of the moment, you will say or do something you will regret, because you don’t know better. Then… either you are paralyzed by the repercussions of that decision... or you move forward in spite of it. That is what I have learned, anyway.”

She simply nodded in response, lowering her hands.

“So, then…” he looked at her firmly. “I will leave this up to you, and give you time to decide… how do you wish to move forward?”

She took a breath, her shoulders heaving wearily as the stiffness in her back made itself known once more. “I… in truth, I never wanted to return in the first place. I feel… drawn beyond Lanayru’s borders. I hoped that… well, I wished to slay you to prove myself capable of venturing out there, but those plans changed… I hoped bringing you here would be proof that I could survive out there.”

Ganon simply nodded. “Then, perhaps you needn’t fret too much about my comfort… but rather, you should be more concerned with planning for such travels.”

“Impa said I couldn’t go out there alone, though…”

“I agree. I don’t think it wise, especially with your status.”

“That’s the same thing she said…” she sighed. “But I know that I’ll be coddled by anyone who traveled with me… I wouldn’t be able to do anything if I went out there. I want to just… be a normal individual in cities. Nobody recognizing me, no fanfare, nothing. But bringing someone along from Lanayru will immediately render that impossible; I’m certain of it.”

He glanced around the room as he thought on his reply. “If… If you wish, Princess… I could accompany you.”

She looked at him fretfully. “You would be willing to?”

“I would… and I would be perfectly willing to travel with you simply… no fanfare. Promise.” he sighed, scratching his chin. “I know how it feels to… have all eyes on you. I knew before I became this. It… isn’t fun.”

She smiled sadly. “I would love to have you accompany me. Only issue is convincing Impa…”

“I do have a question about that; if you are the Princess… with all due respect, shouldn’t she be answering to you?”

“She is the Regent; Functionally she acts as a monarch. I’m more of an accessory… though if she were to pass, that would make me queen.”

His brow furrowed. “Am I wrong to assume you have little in the way of autonomy here, then?”

“No, you’re not.” she tucked her knees against her chest. “I’m still treated like a child, despite having grown past that point years ago.”

“I’m certain your people have reasons for wanting to protect you, but… I am sure it wears on you. In that sense… I think it is natural for you to seek adventure.”

Zelda didn’t know if it was wise for her to tell him her desire to explore was more than simple wanderlust… She didn’t know if he would understand the nagging feeling that pulled her southward in the capacity that she did.

“I… would love to have you along, Ganon,” she replied simply.

He beamed, his sharp-fanged maw grinning happily. “I’d love to stretch my legs. I simply hope that I don’t limit you.”

She smiled back. “You won’t… now, about where you’ll stay in the meantime…”

  
“Does this castle have a loading dock? Stables, perhaps?”

“Ganon, you aren’t an animal.”

“I know, but I’m as big as one. I can grow smaller…” he demonstrated by shrinking down quite a bit, down to the size of a lapdog. “It isn’t comfortable, though. Quite like holding in a sneeze…” with that, he snapped back to his true size, careful to not hit anything on his way up.

She giggled. “That’s good to know… also rather adorable. But I’d rather you be comfortable… which I suppose necessitates a larger space, like you said…”

“So long as I am non-intrusive, I am comfortable with anything, Princess.”

She paused. “You… you know you may call me Zelda, yes?”

He nodded. “I was showing you respect… but if you wish, I will call you Zelda.”

“I much prefer it,” she answered. “I suppose there may be space by the loading docks… let’s go and find out.”

With that, she stood, moving to the door on the other side of the room. Ganon dutifully followed, keeping an eye on his surroundings as they wove through the castle corridors.

Soon, the pair came to a hallway lined with royal paintings- portraits of kings and queens, ancient and recent, lined their path.

Ganon, glancing at each of one, did a double-take at one in particular, stopping in his tracks. Zelda noticed him stop and hurried over to see what was wrong. His brow was furrowed and his mouth agape.

“Who… who is this?” he asked wearily, a shaky claw pointing at the painting.

Zelda looked at the painting, which depicted an ancestor of hers, seated with several officials from other countries. At her ancestor’s side was a Gerudo king, clad in the customary gold and jewels and shaking her ancestor’s hand.

“That’s King Mauricio, my… grandfather with many greats,” she replied. “I think the man next to him is…”

“Me,” Ganon replied quietly, a quaver in his breath. “That… that is me.”


End file.
